Live Review: Phish - 7/22,23,25,26/25 Forest Hills and Saratoga

Phish

7/22,23,25,26/25 

Forest Hills and Saratoga NY

The Vermont jam legends Phish wrapped up the July section of their summer tour with a swing through New York and RtBE was able to catch four out of the five shows they played in the Empire State. While the band takes a short breather until September, it was clear from all in attendance that for a band that has been active for over 40 years, they still have a lot of gas left in the tank. 

Rather than do an in-depth review of each night, RtBE will address the musical highlights and talk briefly about each show. All of Phish's music is available to listen to on Live Phish if you would like to check it out. 

7/22/25 Forest Hills Queens NYC: 

This being the first time Phish played this unique NYC venue, people were a bit worried as the neighborhood has not wanted concerts played there for a few years now. Phish brings their own traveling circus, but fans mostly stayed away if they didn't have a ticket. There was no 'shakedown street' vending area and the band stuck to the hard curfew. 

Musical Highlights: "Carini" > "Tweezer"

The easiest choice for top moments of any show on this run was the first show. While Mr. and Mrs. Met got the biggest ovation of the night during "Moma Dance", there was a euphoric "Wolfman's Brother" and "Harry Hood" was gorgeous as always, nothing topped the second set opener. RtBE have been seeing Phish for decades now and while they are never going to deliver a 'best of all-time full show' again (as they did on 12/31/99) they can still reach some musical heights few bands ever could. 

This "Carini" > "Tweezer" combo is the reason RtBE still goes to see them so often as they play without a net better than any band out there. This is 45 minutes of free form goodness that can rival the best jams they have produced in decades. The band thought so as well, releasing a video of "Carini".

7/23/25 Forest Hills Queens, NYC:

The venue had pluses and minuses for Phish and their fans. For an older person who had to work Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, the early set times and hard cut off were fantastic. However, the feeling from the band and crowd seemed restrictive as the first sets felt like festival offerings and the 2nd sets seemed to be played with the cut-off in mind. Also the sound was noticeably low, especially in the upper rows and the price of tickets was sky high with the smaller capacity venue. Overall, I am not sure the band will be back, but it was nice to play outside under beautiful weather in the five boroughs. 

Musical Highlights: "Cities"

The Wednesday night vibe was more old school Phish and a more solid overall show than Tuesday's Queens opener. Efforts like "Free", "Back On The Train", "Timber" and "Ghost" were all solid, but none were must hear. A new tune, "Ether Edge" was a fun, light excursion in the first set. The newer jam vehicle "Ruby Waves" provided the most experimentation in the second set as it flowed through different sections wonderfully for over 20 minutes, but the star of the night was the loose funk cover of New York's own, The Talking Heads.

This fifteen minute version of "Cities" was free flowing, groovy, playful and jammed out in fun fashion. Trey added some words to reflect the early start time and the band seemed to really connect on this rollicking cover. A live version of the song definitely worth checking out:

7/25/25 SPAC, Saratoga, NY

The traveling circus moved up to a more familiar venue for longtime fans over the weekend as the beautiful Saratoga Performing Arts Center hosted the group. RtBE caught Friday and Saturday night's shows. Those in attendance have called this one of the band's best three night stands in recent memory and the band must feel close to the same way as they released all of Friday and Saturday night's second sets on youtube instead of the standard one song highlight.  

Musical Highlights: "Chalk Dust Torture", "Piper", "Everything's Right"

The band seemed to really break through on Friday night. The first set hinted at it with a very good "Bathtub Gin", a fun "Strawberry Letter 23" and the best version of "Hey Stranger" they have ever played, before really clicking in set two, which was a beast. 

"Chalk Dust Torture" proper was about 3 minutes, then the band just went off into the stratosphere and soared. This jam was again like Tuesday's "Carini > Tweezer", why we still see the band. Then they ramped it up again for "Piper" blazing with energy, experimenting and excitement. Set closer "Everything's Right" also dove into the deep jam area goodness (not normal for this song) closing the set.

The band still went after it in a super strong encore of "Loving Cup > Run Like an Antelope" as they didn't seem to want to stop playing at all. A great night of Phish and our personal favorite night of the run.

7/26/25 SPAC, Saratoga, NY

The Saturday night crowd at SPAC swelled much larger than Friday's show (not sure why) and the lawn was stuffed full for the hot night of tunes. RtBE got in right before the show started and it was a solid first set, but it looks a bit better on paper (to these ears) as the songs were fine (especially Gordon's bombs in "Mike's Song") but things really picked up for our musical highlight.

Musical Highlight: "My Friend, My Friend" > "No Men In No Man's Land"

While Phish clearly were feeling it during the full second set, which you can watch below, I felt like it started with a great end to the first set. "My Friend, My Friend" was deep, dark and funky, while the energetic closer "NMINML" was both spread out and rocking to close the set. If you want to highlight any songs in the second set, I won't fault you as "Oblivion", "DWD", and "Life Saving Gun" are all very good jams. "Fluffhead" was a monster closer and even the encore was top notch. So lot's of options with this but the "MFMF>NMINML" was the start of the magic to these ears. 

Overall Thoughts:

Phish are really playing incredibly well on their last few tours and while we missed the "Tweezer Reprise" fest on Sunday, their peaks remain incredibly high. While consistent, top to bottom must hear sets are no longer the norm, they delivered a few this weekend and their jamming remains world class when they are on point, which is fantastic for their fans.